A Little Bit of Sugar
by spazmoid
Summary: <html><head></head>Before he knew it he was allowing himself to be burnt with the fire. His mouth pressing back and his tongue pushing past lips.</html>


Only one word ran through Roxas' mind as he kicked any stray pebble that dared to cross his path in his fit of rage. That word was "stupid," and all that rage was on himself. He was still too new to this town to know where he was and as a result had gotten off at the wrong bus stop. Now he had absolutely no idea where he was. He scowled, an odd expression on his usual passive face, as a drop of rain hit his forehead. Rain was just what he needed right now. He attempted to pull his hoodless jacket over his head in vain.

In minutes Roxas was running down the streets ducking past passerbys who glared at him from underneath their umbrellas. "Lucky bastards" was what he wanted to say. The cold rain was hard and coming down harder by the second. He was already nearly soaked to the bone. His blue eyes searched the street for a sanctuary. They finally settled on a small cafe. He would have missed it if he had not been looking so hard. It was almost like an illusion, but an illusion was better than no shelter at all. He ran toward it.

Roxas slid in. He tried his best to get the water off of his shoes, but they still squeaked along the clean tiled floor of the cafe. He wandered to a booth and slumped into a booth. His clothes hung to his body uncomfortably, and his hair was making it hard to see. He did not rub it from his eyes. The rain had washed away all his anger, and it was now replaced with that same depression he had when he had first learnt he had to pack his bags and move with his brother to London.

Roxas was so deep in his own thoughts of his midfortunes he did not notice his waiter standing before him. In fact he had settled to banging his head on the table cursing himself when he heard someone clear their throat. He looked up. He was surprised before switching to embarrassment. He had been doing something completely idiotic. "What?" he asked eloquently after clearing his own throat.

The waiter appeared to be amused. His eyebrows were raised slightly looking down at the teenager. "Would you like to order anything?" the waiter said as if he had not been repeating this for the last five minutes. Roxas was staring baffled at his bright red hair. Who would ever even think of dying it a colour like that? Roxas did not even know that colour even existed.

When Roxas finally found his tongue, his words came out in a sort of stutter. The rain must be working on his nerves. He hardly was aware he was shivering quite a bit. "O-oh yeah... Sure." He looked down to turn away from the other man's. When he dug his hands in his pockets he found only air. He stared dumbly at his own hand peeking from his pocket. He cursed. The profanity had been a regular in his vernacular since his move. "I can't pay for anything," he said refusing to look up in his embarrassment. He had piss-poor luck. He could not even afford a cup of coffee.

The waiter chuckled. "Bad day?" he said with a grin. "How about I give this to you on the house?" Roxas was staring at him at the words. They silenced his apology as he stared at the waiter. It was as if he did not even process that he was just offered a free drink. He wanted to object, but the waiter seemed to not be taking no as an answer. He began speaking before Roxas could say anything at all. "I'm sure you want a good cup of coffee whilst you wait." The waiter jutted out hips that did not seem to make sense on a man's body, but still, they suited him somehow. He pulled a pen out from behind his ear. "One quick second. I'll be right back." The waiter disappeared into what Roxas assumed to be the kitchen.

It was not long before Roxas began glancing around curiously. His spirits had risen up somewhat. His day seemed to finally be turning around. The cafe seemed old-fashioned. The floor tile was checkered, and the seats seemed to come right out of something in the Archie archives. He rubbed his hair out of his face, the wet blond mop finally beginning to bother him.

Roxas waited for what seemed like an eternity before he felt something white tossed over his head. His hands reached up and touched the fabric of a soft towel. "Thought you would need it," the waiter said with an bemused smile. Roxas glared at him, but he accepted it anyway. He had an inkling that the waiter was poking fun at him just to gauge his reactions.

"Coffee?" Roxas replied choosing he would not give him what he wanted. If the man wanted him to be irritated, he was not going to give it to him. He was going to pretend to be nice just to get on the other one's nerves. The waiter raised a brow before placing a mug on the table. "Thanks," Roxas said lifting the cup carefully with both of his hands.

The coffee was sweet. It was like the waiter had dumped as much sugar as possible into the drink and then added a bit of milk. It was just the way Roxas liked it. He even thought he tasted just a pinch of chocolate and cinnamon. He could never stand coffee that was too bitter. He could feel the waiter staring at him again. Roxas glanced up from his mug catching the waiter's eyes. He nearly forgot to swallow his coffee in the moment. The waiter's eyes were an unbelievable tint of green. Roxas quickly looked back down at his coffee. "It's all right. Thanks." Roxas nearly bit his tongue on the last word. He had just thanked the waiter twice in almost ten minutes.

To Roxas' relief, the waiter appeared not to notice his nervousness. "You like it," he said with a bright grin. He appeared happy with the news, and even went to the extent of taking the "compliment" as a reason to slide in the booth across from Roxas. "Everyone else says I add too much sugar."

"No," Roxas said with a small shake of his head. "I like my coffee this way," he said absently from behind his cup. He wanted to finish it quickly, so he could head home. It was not as if he did not mind the redhead's company, but it was more of the fact his brother would kill him if he was too late coming into the house. He glanced out the window and saw the rain had stopped. He returnt to his mug finishing the rest in one gulp. "I have to go," he finally said. He tasted guilt on his tongue and had no idea why it was there.

"Have to get home to the parents?" Axel asked with a hum. If he was disappointed, he masked it well. He stood up from the table twirling his red pen in his hand. As Roxas stood up to go, he grabbed ahold of his hand and quickly scribbled something on it before the other male could object. "That's my phone number. Next time you need a bit of cheering up, just call me. I'll send you some coffee or something. Got it memorised?" he said with a laugh and a smile.

Roxas stared at his hand baffled. He wanted to say something, but the only words that came from his mouth was a mumbled thank you as he ducked out the door before he said something stupid. He had to focus on getting home in his already flustered state combined with his naivity to the town. He was lucky if he got home in the next hour.

Roxas thought of flagging a cabcar to get to his destination quicker, but then he remembered he had no money and this town was too small to even have cabcars. He decided it would be better to get to know the town and ducked around buildings. He went from street to street. If it was not for the help of passerbys, he probably never would have found his way to his doorstep. He walked up to the steps, thankful him being wet was one less thing he would have to worry about. All of his running had dried him off pretty decently. He did not bother to knock on the door. His brother was always leaving it unlocked. It was only in his carefree nature.

A few moments of fumbling with the knob led to the door being swung open. The smell of burnt chicken and whatever-the-hell-else-that-was assaulted his nostrils. He groaned mentally, but he headed toward the kitchen anyway. It was better to get the usual greetings over with first. Speaking of which, a person leaving a trail of white dust in his wake collided with him and crushed him in a hug. "Sora!" Roxas exclaimed. He would never get use to this type of treatment.

Sora pulled apart. He babbled on excessively about how he was just so worried about his twin brother. He told him he swore Roxas had said he would be home after the library closed, and the library had closed hours ago. There was also something about how he learnt poultry was very flammable indeed, but Roxas had stopped paying attention by then. He already knew Sora flunked his Home Economics classes with very good reason.

Roxas waited until Sora was done talking, or rather he waited until it was convenient to intervene in the hurried speech, before pointing out that he had been rained on and wanted to shower and change clothes. With that said, he disappeared to his room to do as he said. When he returnt he saw Sora tossing something black and smoking into the garbage. "Pizza?" he asked walking past the kitchen doorway and to the livingroom.

"Riku's ordering it" came Sora's reply from the kitchen. A few minutes later, he flopped down on the couch besides Roxas. He had discarded the apron but went to no bother to clean up the flour that was practically covering him. It was like he had taken the entire bag, dumped it in the tub, and bathe in it. "Popcorn?" Sora asked offering a bowl of the buttery treat to Roxas. Roxas could tell by the way he spoke he had already helped himself to a mouthful.

Roxas shrugged taking some to put in his mouth. He did not want to eat too much out of fear of ruining his appetite for pizza. He had put in another one of the romantic comedies he loved watching into their ancient DVD player. In fact, it was one of the few things Sora and he agreed on watching. Roxas actually preferred serious romances, and Sora always wanted to watch a comedy. A romantic comedy was actually Riku's idea, who was neutral on the entire thing.

Riku had just came into the room, all black and white literally. Roxas always thought of him as something straight from an old movie. He hardly ever talked, so it had to be a silent film. He sat down besides Sora on the couch. He always sat next to Sora, and Sora took this as an invitation to just take over Riku's lap. Roxas glanced over at his brother and his boyfriend and pretended to gag. They could at least pretend not to be so close around him.

Sora took no notice of his brother and poked him with his foot. "Hey Roxas," he said not taking his eyes from the screen. "Did you make any friends today?" Roxas could hear the worry in Sora's voice. He seemed almost positive that Roxas was growing up to be an anti-social hermit with a growing case of agoraphobia. Roxas sighed running a finger through his hair. It was kind of like actually having a mother, he thought sheepishly.

"... Kind of," Roxas admitted in an offhand manner. He focused his eyes rather on the screen than his brother. He was pretending to be interested in the movie he had already watched a thousand times before. He could even mouth the lines of Dennis Cooverman as he talked with Beth Cooper at his sad excuse of a party.

Roxas' words must have been unexpected. Sora shot up from Riku's lap and rushed his brother with questions. "I knew you just needed a bit of time!" he said excitedly. "Boy? Or is he... I mean she... a girl? Is this person nice? Did you get the person's number? We should invite your friend to dinner!" he managed to get out before Roxas held up his hand asking Sora to yield. This was one reason he could not be around Sora too long, he feared he might just go deaf.

"My friend is a guy, and yeah I got his number. No we are not inviting him for dinner unless you are not cooking." Sora stared at him hanging onto his every word. He almost looked hurt when Roxas insulted his cooking but returnt to his bubbly self once realising Roxas had made a friend again. That is, a friend besides Sora who happened to be his best, not to mention only, friend in the entire world. Riku would count if the guy would talk more. Silence was golden, but it was also meant to be broken.

Sora grinned when Roxas finished. "You should call him and ask him to show you around," he said with a smile flopping back down into Riku's lap. Roxas waited for him to say more, but Sora was captivated back into Soraland, or whatever you want to call it. Eithre way he was probably not going to say anything too important until he finished up the movie.

Roxas sighed. He got up and walked over to the phone. It probably would not hurt to take Sora's advice. He picked up the cordless phone and walked up to his bedroom with it. He mumbled the numbers out loud as he punched in the number. He hardly even heard a dial tone before he heard a breathless voice on the other line. There was banging in the background for a while, and then there was silence with muffled thumping. "Hello?"

Roxas breathe in when hearing the voice on the other line. He might as well get this over with. It was not as if the guy had just been sitting and waiting for him to call. He heard another curious hello before replying. He better speak up, or the man might hang up. "It's Roxas. The guy from the cafe," he said adding the last part. He had just remembered he had never told the waiter his name. "I wanted to know if you could show me around tomorrow. It's Friday so I can stay out until whenever." Roxas was flipping through his book as he talked. The feel of the paper under his fingers cured what he took for nervousness of meeting someone new.

"Sure," Roxas heard the other say on the line. "My name is Axel by the way. We can meet at the library. You know where that is?"

Roxas found the page he had been on and bookmarked it with a piece of paper he ripped from the notebook resting idly on his desk. He listened before nodding. Then he realised Axel could not see him over the phone. He flushed lightly. Sora's absentmind manner had to be rubbing off on him. "Yeah," he said. It was great no one could see him act so stupid. That is until he saw a bit of Sora's hair peeking from around the door. "Okay. I'll see you then," he said closing the conversation before Sora could eavedrop more. He hung up without even saying goodbye. He was too busy scowling at Sora and tossing a pillow at him. "Get out the damn door Sora," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Your hair gave you away again."

Sora peeked out with a grin. "Okay, but I just wanted to tell you I'm going to sleep," he said. Roxas was not replying still frowning out him. That familiar unhappy look was gracing his feature again. It was as if he had forgotten how to smile. He made a scoff noise before turning off his light. "Night Roxas," Sora sand turning off the light and not expecting a real response. He was right to not expect one; Roxas had fallen asleep the minute he slid under his sheets.

Roxas awakened with a groan as his alarm clock made annoyingly high pitched beeping noises to wake him up. He was trying to remember through his drowsiness why his alarm clock was on when it was a summer Friday and he had no work. In fact, he had lost his job when he was forced to move. He was almost tempted to throw the clock right out the window when memories of a familiar redhead and sweet coffee filled his minds. "Fuck," he whispered. He forced himself to get up in a frenzy. His bare feet slid on the carpet as he searched his room for suitable clothes. He forgot about how much he liked to keep things neat, focusing on the fact he had forgotten to do the laundry yesterday and the only nice outfit he had in his closet was a checkered short-sleeved hoodie and a pair of black cargo shorts. He decided he could settle.

It was a mess of rushing through a shower and getting ready. It was a frenzy of clothes being tossed on in a sloppy manner and feet thumping down the stairs clumsily as shoes were put on at the same time. It was a rush Roxas had not been in for years. He hated rushing, and the only reason he was doing so now was the fact he was absolutely positive he was going to be late. Axel and he had not even set a time, but he would be damned if he had the other standing and waiting for him. No. It went against his code of always being timely. It was a habit he had picked up from his father.

That was when Roxas paused. He had just been about to grab a PopTart when the man crossed his mind. His hands was raised frozen above the box of frosted treats. It took him a while to shake the thoughts that haunted him when he least expected it. When he did, he was back to rushing and running. He was out the door, down the street, and heading quickly down to the library. He had already missed his bus, so he had to walk. Walking was safer for the environment anyway, he told himself to make himself feel a bit better about missing it. "Too bad it's also slower." Damn. Roxas hated his more pessimist side.

It took Roxas forty-five minutes to get to the library. He ran in, slowing down only when the noirette with dye making his hair look dark indigo peered at him with an icy glare. He returnt to his book seeing that Roxas was at a reasonable pace as he searched the library. Nope. The only red in the room was on the carpets. Axel had yet to arrive.

Roxas was relieved. He found a cosy little cushioned chair to sit in while he waited. Speedwalking several blocks had tired him out. He closed his eyes to slits as he stared out an open window. It was nice day. He made a note to himself to to go and find a nice tree to read under.

"Napping?" Roxas opened his eyes wider to see that red that was beginning to become familiar to him. Axel looked as if he had attempted in vain to tame his wild red hair. They were as straight as they probably would ever be, a ponytail making it look a bit neater. His hands were stuck in the pockets of his ripped jeans as he leant over Roxas. Roxas could see the slight shape of his muscles beneath his black tank top and a flame tattoo on his upper right shoulder. The tattoo stretched from his elbow to his neck. It seemed to match the two triangles under each eye.

"No. Waiting," Roxas replied smartly as he pushed himself up. Axel grinned apparently liking the other boy a bit more as he seemed to be opening up. Well, at least he was a lot more open than he was yesterday. Roxas stretched beside Axel as he walked alongside him to the doors.

"Any special place you want to go?" Axel asked hands producing a lighter. He fiddled with it as he walked. It was almost as if he was amused by the tiny flame it produced. "I like this one place which is great. You'd like it," he said looking back over at Roxas. His green eyes seemed to light up with a dull fire when he saw Roxas had been staring at him.

Roxas cleared his throat and took that as a chance to tear his eyes from the man beside him and to the streets. "Sure," he agreed. It was not as if he really knew anywhere to go in the first place. This town was so quiet compared with the noises of the city. The noises of his home. He was lost in the memories of hot dog vendors and printing stands when Axel's voice brought him back to reality.

"Here we are," Axel announced pointing to a small place that looked like a bar. The only difference was that it was for all ages rather than just older people. Roxas was taking they took your licence at the table rather than the door. Axel walked ahead of him, and just when Roxas thought he was going to have to chase after him, the door was held open for him instead. "After you," Axel said with a grin.

Roxas stared at the other before shaking his head and walking inside. He was surprised with the sounds of various people in conversations and the smell of alcohol mixed with sodas. Roxas guessed anyone who wanted to hang out and not cause a disturbance on the streets came in here. "Axel," someone yelled stretching out the "el" in a singsongy way called from a corner of the room. Axel did not respond to the voice, but he did take hold of Roxas' hand and tugged him through the crowd. It was as if he sensed the young teenager's desire to run and escape a place with too much "socialising" at once. Maybe Roxas really was meant to be an anti-social recluse.

Axel was still gripping Roxas' hand when they reached a table filled with various people of both genders sitting in sort of a mismatched group at the table. There was a girl with light blonde hair hiding behind a sketchbook, a girl with normal redhair watching the other girl draw, a guy with a mullet and a homemade shirt that said "MULLETMUFFIN" in black permanent marker, and other kids who did not really seem to fit in any certain clique. They were all just being themselves. "This is Roxas," Axel announced to the group of kids who all looked up at him when he spoke. That was everyone except for the blonde; she just continued to draw in her sketchpad. Axel was apparently used to this. He continued to talk, despite. "He's new, and I thought this was the perfect place to show him what Twilight Town is all about."

"I'm Demyx," the boy with the mullet said setting off a series of introductions. The entire table said their names. The last person to say her name was the girl lost in her sketchbook. Her voice was as quiet as her personality as she did not even bother to look up from her sketchbook when she mumbled her name was Namine. Demyx had a warm personality smiling at Roxas and telling him this was all their group. "Except Zexy. He had to work today," he said with a sad smile. Roxas nodded, trying not to be overwhelmed by all the information.

The rest of the day passed as a sort of blur that Roxas somehow found himself enjoying. Demyx told funny stories of shows gone bad, surprising Roxas with lyrics that would definitely make the charts in his opinion. It turnt out Kairi was an old friend of Sora's and already knew a bit about him from his talkative brother. "Zexy," which turnt out to be just an abbreviation of the name Zexion, had shown up later and begrudgingly just said he liked books before sitting besides Demyx. Roxas noticed Demyx was the only one Zexion would say more than two sentences to. He got to know everyone well, and Namine even drew him a picture. He drunk his first daiquiri, virgin of course, and then was dragged to the dancefloor by Demyx. He only stopped because a) it was embarrassing and b) Zexion looked as if he was going to kill him even if he was pretending to not notice from behind a heavy book he had brought with him. It was all over before he knew it, and the place had began to thin out. The only people there was at their table, and even some of them had to leave eventually.

"Bye Roxas and Axel," Demyx said with a laugh. Zexion and he were the last to leave. Zexion's dark eyes not even bothering to give eithre of them a look as he walked out the door. Roxas just now noticed Axel and he were the only ones in the bar. The music was still playing, but no one was on the floor. Roxas sat picking at the remains of his drink. He did not even notice Axel had been staring at him for the last five minutes.

"Want to dance?" Roxas looked up. The question surprised him, and he wanted to object. Unfortunately, he would never say no to those hopeful eyes. He nodded in stunned bewilderment, trapped and pinned like a fly in a spider's web. He was pulled up easily before whisked to the floor. He made silent objections in his mind that his mouth refused to say as he followed the other's movements. He could not even hear the music anymore. He was lost in the sound of his own heartbeat thumping in his chest. It was a feeling he had thought had died when he was rejected by his father and kicked out the house for being who he was. It was a feeling he did not even know he missed until it returnt with full force.

Roxas did not even know he was holding his breath until they stopped. He gripped Axel's shoulders unsure what to do with himself. He hated that his mind was mess and jumbled. He was bound to be as hopeless as Sora when he was with Riku at this rate. It was crazy and insane and it was suddenly Axel's lips on his.

The kiss was terrifying. It was the living proof that Roxas was everything he feared and everything his father hated. It was uncontrollable and causing him to melt like a candle under a flame. Before he knew it he was allowing himself to be burnt with the fire. His mouth pressing back and his tongue pushing past lips.

When they pulled apart both seemed as if they had came out of the smoke to breathe in the air. Axel was smiling at him, and Roxas could feel himself wanting to smile back.

This town might not be so bad after all.


End file.
